Marine veteran’s family sues city of Eagle Lake over his death

The family of a U.S. Marine Corps veteran who died in a motorcycle crash this spring has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the city of Eagle Lake, the family’s attorney said.

USMC Cpl. James “J.P.” Salinas died April 28 when the motorcycle he was riding collided with a patrol car driven by Eagle Lake police officer David Lee Weatherall, according to the lawsuit filed Monday in Colorado County.

Cpl. James Salinas (Courtesy of Watts Guerra Craft Law Firm)

Salinas, 25, was traveling on FM 1013 near Eagle Lake to his job at a Walmart Distribution Center in Sealy when the officer “inexplicably and without excuse attempted to make an illegal and ill-advised u-turn in front of Corporal Salinas,” the lawsuit states.

Salinas, who was wearing a helmet, was severely injured when the motorcycle skidded into the patrol car. He died later that day.

Salinas was an infantry squad leader and decorated combat veteran who had returned home from a tour of duty in Afghanistan only six months before the fatal crash, according to the family’s attorney, Hunter Craft of Houston.

Eagle Lake City Attorney Donald Bendy declined to comment on the lawsuit.

Craft, the family’s attorney, said the lawsuit will help the family to get closure.

“I think it’s very important to the family that they validate Corporal Salinas’ life through this wrongful death lawsuit, and what a tragic and unnecessary loss this was,” he said.

The lawsuit seeks $500,000 in damages for mental anguish and loss of wages.